Fusion Antibodies Plc (LON:FAB) slumped 24p or 14%, to 143p, following the news that a notice of termination had been served for its collaboration agreement with MAB Discovery GmBH, which would see the partnership end later this year unless a further agreement is made between the parties.
The company added that talks continue in good faith, meanwhile.
Cap-XX Limited (LON:CPX) advanced 15% to 9.9p on Wednesday as it revealed there had been a “sharp increase in enquiry levels” for all its product ranges including 3 Volt technology – and if those enquiries could convert into orders would amount to annualized sales of US$20mln.
Best of the Best plc (LON:BOTB), up 15% at 316p, reported a rise in profits for the full-year and confirmed its transition towards an exclusively online model.
The AIM-listed group, best known for its competitions to win cars at airports and shopping centres, reported a pre-tax profit for the year of £1.6mln, up from £1.51mln the year before as like-for-like revenue rose 13.3% to £12.25mln.
Keras Resources Plc (LON:KRS) shares rose 5.3% to 0.4p after the explorer detailed high grade gold findings at the Coronation Prospect in Western Australia.
11:00am: Redt Energy and MySQUAR shares in small cap spotlight, hVIVO continues to rise
Redt Energy PLC (LON:RED) shares gained 11%, to 6.2p, after it formally launched its latest generation (Gen 3) energy storage machine at an industry event in Munich, Germany. It told investors that it is now taking orders for deliveries starting in the fourth quarter.
hVIVO PLC (LON:HVO) climbed a further 10% to 73.6p following on from Monday’s flu vaccine update, and the share is now up 260% since the start of the week.
Moving the other direction, MySQUAR Ltd (LON:MYSQ) dropped around 12%, to 1.34p, in response to news that the Myanmar-language social media and software group is acquiring MyPay Myanmar, a payments business to support its smartphone payment systems.
The cash and shares deal was valued at £2mln.
9:25am: Sirius Minerals, Mears Group and Severfield among Wednesday’s early movers
UK mine developer Sirius Minerals PLC (LON:SXX) saw its shares rise in Wednesday’s early deals after it announced a 7-year pre-sale supply deal, which will see it ship the POLY4 fertilizer product to Intercontinental Trade DMCC Dubai which will in turn distribute it in Nigeria.
It covers up to 350,000 tonnes of POLY4 per year for the seven years following the start of production.
Sirius was up 4.2% trading at 32.52p.
READ: Wednesday's FTSE 100 market report
Mears Group PLC (LON:MER) shares gained on Wednesday, up 3.18%, as the provider of support services to the housing and care sectors reaffirmed its full year guidance.
The company said it continues to make “solid progress” in its two core divisions, with revenues in the housing arm stabilising in the first half and margins improving in the care business.
Steel group Severfield PLC (LON:SFR) said it continues to see a stable market in the UK despite the uncertainties of Brexit, forecasting modest economic growth and a ‘good’ pipeline of potential future orders.
The company reported a 5% increase in revenue to £274.2mln for the year. Underlying profit increased 19% to £23.5mln, while the reported profit before tax was stated at £22.2mln, up from £18.1mln in the preceding year. It highlighted a “strong cash performance” and increased its overall shareholder payout for the year, to a total of 4.3p per share.
London and southeast homebuilder Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (LON:BKG), down 4.13%, released positive results but cautioned that they reflect a peak for Berkeley with profitability returning to more normal levels from 2018/19.
Proactive news headlines:
Sirius Minerals PLC (LON:SXX) has announced a 7-year supply deal which will see it sell POLY4, the fertilizer product from its Yorkshire mine, to Intercontinental Trade DMCC Dubai which will in turn distribute it in Nigeria. It covers up to 350,000 tonnes of POLY4 per year for the seven years following the start of production.
MySQUAR Limited (LON:MYSQ) has raised £2mln to fund its acquisition of MyPay Myanmar as it looks to accelerate the development of its mobile payment system. The AIM-quoted firm has issued £2.22mln of convertible bonds to Atlas Capital Markets, which has supported it in the past.
Mporium Group PLC (LON:MPM) said its proprietary IMPACT technology has been used across the launch campaign for the Samsung S9 mobile phone.
ClearStar Inc (LON:CLSU) said it has significantly expanded the number of collection sites for its ClearMD mobile drug testing solution by integrating with the network of industry giant Abbott Laboratories. The employee background checking specialist has similar tie-ups with LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics.
Genedrive PLC (LON:GDR) has announced a multi-partner grant award from the UK National Institute for Health Research’s Invention for Innovation programme for NHS point-of-care test. The AIM-listed firm said the award is for the development and implementation of a point-of-care pharmacogenetic test to avoid antibiotic-related hearing loss in newborn children.
Kazakhstan-based accommodation group Chagala Group Limited (LON:CGLO) has received a cash offer at US$1.55 per share from major stakeholder, AIMS.
African Battery Metals PLC (LON:ABM) has reported on six months which it described as “a very busy period” as it advanced plans to become a significant explorer, developer and ultimately producer of battery metals. The junior mining company, formerly known as Sula Iron & Gold, was relaunched in January alongside the acquisition of a cobalt asset in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the appointment of a team.